If there's one lesson all young viewers viewers should learn from watching Teen Mom, it's that parenting is incredibly challenging and probably not the sort of lifestyle you're ready for when you're still in high school.

Unless you can get a reality deal out of it, that is. Because if you can make that happen, you'll be earning the kind of salary most adults can only dream about.

Amber Portwood, the 20-year-old who got pregnant at 16, got snapped up by MTV, and was recently jailed for allegedly abusing her babydaddy, makes—are you ready for this?—$280,000 per year.

Portwood's legal troubles are the reason her salary has been made public. While shooting Teen Mom, MTV cameras recorded Portwood hitting Gary Shirley, her ex-fiancee and father of her child. She was booked on two felony counts and a misdemeanor for domestic battery on December 27, and upon being released from jail on a $5,000 bond, she appeared before a Madison County magistrate who ordered her to reveal her earnings.

Portwood stated her occupation was being a "television personality." When asked to reveal her salary, her lawyer initially objected, but was overruled. Portwood was forced to disclose that she makes $140,000 with a six-month MTV contract, for a $280,000 annual paycheck.

So many questions. Is that a typical Teen Mom salary, and if so, why do they always seem so broke? Or did Amber get a special deal for being a man-smacking trainwreck? Finally: is that money going to her kid's eventual counseling needs? Or for stilettos and more ill-advised tattoos?

The really sick thing is that as inflated as that salary sounds, it's probably nothing compared to what MTV is pulling in for Teen Mom. I can't decide if I should be disgusted that Amber is earning this kind of money, or outraged that MTV is paying her such a small percentage of their pregnant-teen-fueled profits.

Actually, I think I'm just depressed that these shows are so insanely popular.